A brief history of BASIC
BASIC (Beginner’s All‑purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) first emerged in the mid‑1960s as a teaching language, but its true renaissance arrived with the wave of 8‑bit home computers in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Companies such as Microsoft, Commodore, Apple, and Sinclair licensed or adapted the language for machines like the Commodore 64, VIC‑20, Apple II, and ZX Spectrum, turning BASIC into the de‑facto gateway for hobbyists and budding programmers. Its simple, line‑oriented syntax e.g., 10 PRINT "HELLO" allowed anyone to write interactive programs directly from a keyboard, fostering a culture of experimentation that helped seed the personal computing boom.
While BASIC’s accessibility sparked creativity, the language also exposed early limitations of 8‑bit hardware. Memory constraints forced developers to trim down features, leading to many dialects (e.g., GW‑Basic, Applesoft II, and Sinclair BASIC) that added quirks and proprietary extensions. Nonetheless, the era cemented BASIC’s legacy as the first taste of coding for millions (including myself), laying groundwork for later high‑level languages and shaping the DIY spirit that still drives today’s maker community.